when kids are home sick

When you have a child who complains of a headache, you maybe think they’re trying to get out of doing homework. But when you have a son with a shunt implanted in his brain, you worry about everything. Wait, that’s not fair. I don’t worry, say, if he eats a peanut butter sandwich, which many parents must, so not everything. But when there are any signs of a possible stomach flu or headache, anxiety creeps in, and you wonder if you’ll be spending the night in the ER. Signs of a malfunctioning shunt are complaints of a headache, unusual behavior, or vomiting. If it were Abigail to puke at the dinner table, you’d think she picked something up at school. But when it’s Lucas, you think about his life. And it never goes away.

First, you try to get him to sleep, to take a fever and pain reducer and try to sleep. Because sometimes he wakes up fine. As if it never happened. But this time, he had a rough night of coughing, which led to the puking. So, LB stayed home with me yesterday, snuggled in bed, unable to sleep. No more headache, but still not himself. We watched movies…

But after the movies and television were off, I read to him, then left him to see if he couldn’t nap. Though each time I checked on him, he’d be out of bed. I’d see his legs, standing at the window, the window shade still pulled down, covering his back. He was standing at the window, looking down out onto the street. “Ahem,” I said. Then, feeling caught, but still not altering his gaze, he said, “It’s true. I miss my sister.” He couldn’t wait for Abigail to return home from school. I love that about him. He is crazy about his sister… and even added some movies to his personal watch list, so she could enjoy them, too.